NCIS Climbs Mt Everest: Part Two, the Climb
by GingerNinja1111
Summary: The second in my NCIS Climbs Mt Everest Series. Vance sends the team to Mt Everest on a team building mission.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: I wanted to have this up yesterday, but I didn't get home until 8:00pm because of rehearsal, flute lessons and my parents deciding to go out to dinner. Well, here is the prologue of this story!**

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo stood waiting in line for the bathroom on the airplane to Nepal. Sighing at the long line he began to think about the climb that lay ahead of him. He honestly wasn't sure if he could do it. Sure, he had done a lot of prep work, but he's begun to realize that it's not all physical. A lot of it is mental. Being up thousands of feet, 25,00 feet and above known as 'The Death Zone." The air having 2/3 less oxygen than on sea level, it's a lot to comprehend for anyone. Thankfully, he had his closest friends with him and the love of his life to help him accomplish this unimaginable feat.

"And to the left of the airplane," the pilot's voice sounded through the airplane, "You will see Mt Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. It's summit is 29,035 feet above sea level."

Tony, along with everyone else on the airplane rushed towards the left side of the plane. Tony couldn't believe it, Everest was only a mere 10,000 feet below the cruising altitude of the airplane. Wow! It was high.

"Wow it's beautiful," a man wearing a suit said to Tony, "I'm here on business, I don't think I could ever climb it."

"I'm gonna have to," replied Tony.

"You're climbing Mt Everest?" the guy replied in shock, "I'm Michael Fawkes, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo," Tony introduced himself, "My boss's boss decided to send us to climb it."

"Woah," Michael said in awe, "I should probably get back to my seat. Nice talking to you."

"You too," replied Tony. He then went to the bathroom and sat down next to Abby. McGee and Ziva sat in the row behind them.

"Isn't it so pretty?" Abby said, "I can't wait to climb it. Timmy? Are you awake?"

"Yeah Abby," McGee replied yawning, "Ziva's awake too."

"I can't believe that we're almost there," Ziva said, "Then all we have to do is climb the mountain. If only that was as easy as it sounds. I know I can do the actual climbing, I am not sure I will have the will to do it."

The four of them sat silently, letting what Ziva had just said sink in. Not speaking for the remainder of the flight, the four teammates sat, thinking about the formidable task laid before them.

One question haunted then all:

Could they do it?


	2. Intro to Katmandu

**AUTHORS NOTE: Hey! Sorry for the delay in updating, school has been really busy. Many thanks to: shirik for reviewing. **

"Please be seated and fasten your seatbelt as we begin our final descent into Katmandu," the pilot's voice sounded through the plane, he then repeated the same message into several different languages.

For the next twenty minutes, the airplane flew over several more mountains before reaching a city, Katmandu. Descending slowly, the airplane circled around the airport until finally landing. It was a relatively smooth landing, and the agents exited the plane soon afterwards. Walking out onto the jet way, they walked into the terminal and began to talk.

"Hey ninja," Tony greeted Ziva, "Ready to kick some mountain ass?"

"I suppose I am ready Tony," replied Ziva sadly, "How about you?"

"You okay ninja?" asked Tony concerned, "You seem really down."

"I'm sure she's fine Tony," Abby answered for Ziva, "Ziva, we should probably go to the bathroom."

Abby grabbed Ziva's hand and pulled her into the closest bathroom.

"Ziva," Abby said, concern showing in her bright green eyes, "You don't seem like yourself. Please tell me what's wrong."

"It is nothing important," Ziva said trying to dismiss Abby.

"You know you can tell me, right?" Abby assured Ziva, "You're my best friend Ziva, and I care about you. I want to know what's wrong."

"Do you remember how I told you that my little sister died," Ziva asked, seeing Abby's confused look she added "The one who loved mountains?"

"Yeah," responded Abby, "What about her?"

"It's just a bit overwhelming climbing Mt Everest, what she wanted to do since before I could remember," Ziva admitted beginning to cry, "I really miss her Abby. I really miss her, even all these years later. Why did she have to die?''

Bringing Ziva into a hug Abby whispered, "I don't know Ziva. All I know is that you are going to be fine, you have an amazing boyfriend, amazing friends and a chance to honor your sister's memory by climbing Mt Everest."

"Thank you Abby," Ziva hugged back, "I suppose I will be okay."

Meanwhile, Tony, McGee, Gibbs, Ducky and Palmer were using the facilities.

"How'd you hold up on the flight?" asked Gibbs, "I know that I slept for nearly the whole time."

"I met a guy," Tony said, "He couldn't believe that I was actually going to climb Everest."

"You don't exactly fit the stereotype of being a climber," teased McGee, "If I didn't knew you personally, I wouldn't even believe you if you said that you were going to climb it."

"Love ya too McGee," Tony shot back sarcastically, "At least I'm not the only one who doesn't look like a climber."

McGee began to advance on Tony, stopped short by a look from Gibbs.

"You guys better shape up," Gibbs warned them, "Or not only will you not make it to the summit, you might not even make it out of there alive."

The team was on their way to the hotel that they were going to stay at during their brief stay in Katmandu. Passing through the crowed, polluted streets it seemed nearly impossible that this crazy hub was only a few hundred miles away from the calm surrealism that the Himalayans were. Getting out of the taxi, the driver making even Gibbs feel sick to his stomach, the team walked into the lobby of the hotel. Checking in, they found out that they had three rooms booked. One for Tony, McGee and Palmer, the second for the girls and Gibbs and Ducky shared the last one.

"You guys should go to bed soon," Gibbs ordered walking up a flight of stairs to the hotel rooms, "We have to get up early tomorrow morning."

Wishing the others goodnight, Abby and Ziva stepped into their hotel room. Gibbs and Ducky came to their room next, leaving Jimmy, Tony and McGee to find their hotel room.

"'Night guys," Tony said crawling into one of the three beds.

McGee and Palmer wished him goodnight, and soon followed him in his conquest for sleep. The golden sun set, leaving the foreign city in moderate darkness, the ever-present urban lights block out any possibility of complete darkness. Like New York City, Katmandu was a city that never slept.

"How do ya think the team is doing?" Gibbs asked Ducky after stepping into the hotel room, "Are they ready to climb Everest?"

"I believe that most of the team is ready for the physical challenge of summiting the mountain," Ducky informed Gibbs, "I am not entirely sure about the mental aspect of this challenge. I think that Director Vance expects the mental part to come while we are climbing, that I suppose is the whole point of this team building assignment."

"I understand about the mental, but who is not ready for the physical part?" asked Gibbs confused.

"Anthony," Ducky said, "It will be hard for him to climb in the thin altitude because of his plague scarred lungs."

"I was afraid of that," Gibbs admitted, "I suppose all we can do is just be there for him."

"And I will keep an eye on him to make sure everything is going as planned," Ducky offered, "Should we alert Abigail?"

"I will do that tomorrow morning," decided Gibbs, "Goodnight Duck."

"Goodnight Jethro," said Ducky climbing into his bed.

Gibbs climbed into his bed and tried to fall asleep, but he was kept awake by plaguing thoughts of his team, of how they could be injured, or worse killed by climbing this mountain. Eventually falling asleep, Gibbs dreamt about how his team could be victorious in their climb. Seeing Tony and Abby on the summit, Ziva and McGee smiling on their way down from the summit.

Waking up early that next morning, he wondered what fate would lie with his team, what path destiny would choose for his team.

Ziva awoke early the next morning, being careful not to disturb Abby she made her way out of the hotel room and down to the lobby of the hotel. Walking out into the streets of Nepal, she noticed that the loud noise of the city had diminished somewhat within the early hours of the morning. She began to run, only pausing when she reached a Buddhist temple.

"_So this is where a lot of Everest climbers go before they climb it," _Ziva thought, _"They spin the prayer wheels and pray to the gods."_

Ziva began to spin the prayers wheels, she now knew why 60 years of climbers before her had found comfort and solace in visiting this ancient spiritual site.

**This is the longest chapter I have ever written. It's over 1,000 words!**


	3. One Short Day in Katmandu

**Authors Note: I am sorry for the really long delay in updating. This past couple of weeks have been so insane with school and stuff. I will update on Friday, and I may update tomorrow. I will be able to update most days next week!**

**Thanks to: ****shirik**** and ****aliiahncisxx**** for reviewing. :D**

"You have one day to spend in Katmandu," Gibbs announced during breakfast, "Then we will begin our trek to base camp. You can do whatever you want, though I wouldn't recommend eating any food in Katmandu you will get sick as a dog."

Gibbs then left with Ducky in order to take care of some last minute preparations for the climb. Organizing Sherpa's, making sure that the supplies and food got up to base camp, stuff like that.

The rest of the team finished their breakfast, and then headed back to their rooms to get dressed for the day. Tony decided to wear dark jeans, a white button-down shirt and his usual designer shoes. McGee was wearing a similar outfit, but his jeans were lighter and he wore sneakers. Jimmy was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt and sneakers.

"I'm going to go check on Ziva," Tony announced, "I want to hang out with her today."

Tony walked down the hallway heading towards the girl's room, heading to find Ziva. Seeing her walking down the hallway her dark jeans showing off her curvy figure, her long dark brown hair was gracefully flowing around her, shimmering in the mid-morning light.

"You are looking gorgeous this morning," Tony remarked.

"You are looking quite attractive yourself," Ziva replied smiling, "Would you like to hang out in our last "free" day?"

"I'd love to do nothing more," Tony replied, "Why don't we explore Katmandu?"

Ziva nodded in agreement, "I found a temple that I found very interesting this morning."

"Why don't we go there?" Tony decided, "Then we can go out to lunch afterwards."

"Sounds wonderful," Ziva replied, "Shall I show you the way to the temple?"

"Yes indeed," Tony replied grabbing Ziva's hand.

Arriving at the temple, Ziva led Tony to where she had been this morning, among the prayer wheels. Tony and Ziva began to pray.

'I don't know what's going to happen when we try to climb this mountain,' Tony thought, 'I just am praying that God or whoever is out there will protect my team, my family from being hurt. I am not a real religious person, so this praying thing is sort of new to me. I just am begging to whoever is out there, keep them safe. Abby is like my sister, Ziva's the love my life, McGee's the brother I never had, Jimmy the cousin. Ducky is my grandfather, and Gibbs… Gibbs is my father. I love them all, and I would go to the end of the earth, climb the tallest mountain to protect them.'

Wearing her usual clothes, Abby met McGee at the hotel for breakfast. The first thing that McGee noticed when she sat down was that she was carrying lots of pamphlets and fliers that appeared to be about Mt. Everest.

"Okay Timmy," Abby announced, "I am going to teach you about Mt. Everest, since we should know more than we currently do about Mt Everest before we climb it."

"Okay," McGee reluctantly agreed.

"Okay!" Abby exclaimed excited, "So it takes you several weeks to hike up to base camp, due to the fact that you have to get used to the altitude since base camp is at 17,500 feet above sea level. Then, you have to climb through the Khumbu Icefall, which is a constantly moving frozen glacier that has many crevasses that you have to cross on ladders that are strung between the crevasses. If you fall, that pretty much means immediate death. Then there's Camp One, which is at 19,500 feet above sea level. You then climb up the Western Cwm to get to Camp Two, also known as ABC (Advanced Base Camp) at 21,000 feet. You then reach my favorite part of the climb, Lhotse Face, which is on the way to Camp Three (23,700 feet). The Lhotse Face is a steep ice wall; one slip could mean that you loose your life. You continue up the Lhotse Face to the South Col, which is where Camp Four is at 26,300 feet, the only camp in the Death Zone. Anything above 26,000 feet is known as the Death Zone because the human body can't acclimate or get used to the altitude. The longer you stay in such high altitudes the more likely it is that you will develop altitude sickness. Then after Camp Four, you will push through the Balcony, which is located at 27, 500 feet then, you will climb the balcony to get to the Hilary Step, which is located at 28,800 feet. It's a larger than 70-foot rock step that wouldn't be so hard on sea level, but it is the most technically challenging part of the climb due to the altitude. Once we ascend the Hilary Step we will slowly proceed to the summit at 29,028 feet above sea level."

"How long will this take?" asked McGee after listening intently.

"It should take about 2 months due to the fact that we have to get used to the altitude," Abby answered, "But the final climb to the summit starting from base camp should take about 2 days."

"Will we be fine once we reach the summit?" asked McGee, "Or will we still be in danger when we descend?"

"The trip down the mountain can be even more dangerous that the trip up," Abby said sadly, "Climbers can make foolish mistakes that can cost them their lives due to the altitude, and just sheer exhaustion."

It was dinnertime, and the team was eating at the hotel. Tony and Ziva had spent a few hours visiting the temple. They then went out to lunch at an American restaurant in hopes that the food wouldn't upset their stomachs. Their idea unfortunately didn't work, so they spent the afternoon sitting by the toilet emptying the content of their stomachs.

"I hope Tony and Ziva are okay by tomorrow," Abby said with concern, "They looked really sick."

"They should be better by tomorrow," Gibbs said, "Tony said that he may come down tonight, but I'm not sure about Ziva."

Just then, Ziva walked in. Abby immediately noticed Tony's absence.

"Where's Tony?" Abby demanded.

"He said that he was going to take a nap," Ziva said sitting down, "I left him in his room."

"I hope Tony's okay!" Abby exclaimed.

"Yeah," Gibbs replied, "DiNozzo better be okay tomorrow."


End file.
